• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.

    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Modern Radio

rjc157

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
I'm trying to hook up a modern radio in the car its negative ground already and I need to attach two power leads one to a constant 12 volts and one to the switch ,can I do this from the fuse box ,any suggestions I was thinking of going to the starter solenoid and one to the right side of the fuse box
 
When I wired a modern radio into my 6, I pulled from the purple line which powered the glove box light (always hot), for the constant requirement. I pulled off the green switched or pink./white for the switched line. I would avoid the starter solenoid to avoid the voltage surges when that activates. Both were behind the dash already.
 
They say the first thing to go is your memory how to hook up your modern radio. :jester::devilgrin::jester::devilgrin: Just kidding, Ray.

You have received some BAD information I suggest you tune to another station..:angel2:
 
rjc157:

You may want to hook all the power inputs for the radio to a common point that is switched off when your car is not in use. This is because the memory can drain the Battery if the car is not frequently used. -Just a thought.
 
Last edited:
I did that the only problem with this radio is that every time you turn it on all the presets are erased and you have to start all over again
 
Hi Ralph,

Yes. You can attach the switched current to the green side of the smaller fuse and the constant current to the brown radio line, already included in the harness for the radio. The constant power is usually used to provide radio security and you will still need to reenter your security code and presets after you switch off the master power switch. If it hasn’t already, I would install an in-line fuse to protect that line.

Depending upon the type of radio you are installing, this article may be of some help (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx...MWMxLWI3MzItZmVlNjBiNjlhMWEw/edit?usp=sharing).

All the best,
Ray (64BJ8P1)
 
I did that the only problem with this radio is that every time you turn it on all the presets are erased and you have to start all over again

Well I know that but which is the most inconvenient, resetting the presets or being faced with a dead battery.????

Alliteratively you could hook the radio up in the standard manner and keep a battery minder-Pulse Charger- on the car when it is not being used. then the presets will remain set and the battery will not discharge.
 
Well I know that but which is the most inconvenient, resetting the presets or being faced with a dead battery.????

Alliteratively you could hook the radio up in the standard manner and keep a battery minder-Pulse Charger- on the car when it is not being used. then the presets will remain set and the battery will not discharge.

I would go with option two. Keep it on a minder if not driven often, better for the battery anyways.
 
It will only take a very small amount of power to keep the radio's memory active and security in place. I have had this for quite a while with no concernable loss in battery power over a 2 week period when the car was garaged with master switch on. However, in practice, I usually turn off the main switch when not expecting to use the car for more then a day and use the radio scan function or tape/disk players rather than depend upon the presets.

Ray (64BJ8P1)
 
A slightly off the wall idea would be to wire the memory line to a separate battery. 8 AA in series = 12 V or possibly would work with a single 9V depending on the requirements for the radio. That would enable you to disconnect the main battery without losing your radio presets.
 
Back
Top